Freedom
by Haruka Sumairu
Summary: 016. July 4 is a special day. Nagihiko's birthday, a fun day out with the Guardians, and...the day Americans got freedom, according to Yaya. But as the fireworks shoot toward the sky, one more thing adds to the list, and someone else gets freedom too.


**July 4, 2011: Happy Birthday Nagihiko~**

* * *

><p><strong>Ring! Ring! Ring!<strong>_  
><em>

Rima looked down at her ringing phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"RIMA-TAAAAANNNNN!" the voice from the other line yelled. Annoyed, Rima distanced the phone away from her until the voice stopped.

"What do you want, Yaya?" she demanded.

"Today's July 4~" Yaya sung.

"Huh," Rima replied, "I didn't know you actually remembered the date."

Rima heard pouting on the other line. "Mou~ Rima-tan's mean~~"

She just rolled her eyes and asked, "Were you going to say something important, or just waste my time again?"

"No! No! Today's a special day! You wanna know why, Rima-tan?"

'_Because it's Nagihiko's birthday, duh_,' she thought. '_Of course Yaya wanted to call to bug me about confessing to him on his special day. Yeah, not gonna happen._'

"Why Yaya?"

"Kairi-kun told Yaya that in America, they celebrate July 4 with fireworks!"

Rima mentally glared at Yaya. "But we're not in America," Rima sighed, "now are we?

She looked at the clock, which read that it was almost 11. Knowing that they were going to meet up in an hour, she decided to hurry up and end the conversation.

"Does Rima-tan wanna know why they celebrate?" Yaya asked enthusiastically.

"No."

Yaya was silent for a moment, causing Rima to think she hung up. "Kairi-kun said July 4 was the day Americans got freedom!"

"And why exactly did they get freedom?" Rima asked in a sarcastic voice.

"..."

"Well, Yaya?"

"...Yaya forgot to ask."

* * *

><p>An hour later, Rima was sitting on a bench in the middle of the shopping center. Sitting beside her was Tadase, Amu, and Nagihiko; they were all waiting for Yaya, who was running late. Tadase decided that, as a reward for all their hard work as Guardians, they should go out once in a while and have fun during their summer vacation.<p>

Rima started to become impatient waiting for Yaya. In an attempt to break her boredom, she turned to Nagihiko. "Nagihiko," she called.

The indigo-haired boy whipped around to face Rima and asked, "Yes, Rima-chan?"

"You know how today is July 4, right?"

Nagihiko's face paled for a second before his usual smile returned to his face. "...yes. What about it?"

Rima scrunched her eyebrows and frowned. Why had Nagihiko paled so suddenly? Was it something she said?

"Well-"

"Sorry Yaya's late!" a cheerful, high-pitched voice interrupted.

Rima looked to see Yaya running towards them...dragging an annoyed looking certain Class President.

"Yaya just had to bring Kairi-kun along!" she explained as she pushed Kairi in front of Tadase.

"My apologies, King," Kairi said as he pushed up his glasses. "But Ace ("_Yaya!_") insisted that I come along."

Tadase chuckled and shook his head. "It's okay Sanjou-kun. We're glad you're here."

Interrupting the conversation, Amu suddenly complained, "Yeah, can we go shopping now? I have to get back home in two hours."

"Okay," Tadase said, "then where shall we go first?"

All at once, everyone named which store they wanted to go to. They were each different, so Nagihiko suggested, "How about we go in pairs? Then we can go wherever we want and everyone's happy?"

Everyone shook their heads and agreed to the idea, so they all paired off and left. Of course, Amu went with Tadase, and an excited Yaya dragged Kairi along with her to buy ice cream, leaving Rima and Nagihiko together.

Glaring at the rest of the Guardians as they went their separate ways, Rima said, "Don't you think they leave us together on purpose?"

"Yes. What should we do first?"

"...let's buy crepes."

* * *

><p>As the two munched on their strawberry-chocolate crepes, they saw a man standing next to a large bamboo tree in the corner of the shopping center. The man was carrying a sign that read:<p>

**Write your *_Tanabata_ wish early!**

**_*Tanzaku_ paper only 100 yen!**

"Huh, I almost forgot. The Tanabata festival is in a few days," commented Nagihiko as they walked toward the man.

Each paying their 100 yen to the man, Rima bought a lavender colored paper while Nagihiko bought a peach colored paper.

As Rima wrote down her wish on her tanzaku, she caught a glimpse of what Nagihiko wrote on his. Widening her eyes, she quickly turned back to her paper and finished writing. '_How peculiar for him to write that...'_

As Nagihiko put his paper in his pocket to save for the festival, and Rima put hers in her purse, they didn't notice that the man with the sign was staring at them.

"Hey! I knew you looked familiar! You're the young man from the New Year's festival!"

Surprised, Nagihiko looked up at the man. "I knew you were familiar," the man said, "and you were! The young man with the long girly hair!"

Rima laughed silently at the man as Nagihiko nervously chuckled. "Haha, small world, huh? Well, it was nice seeing you again. We better get going..."

As Nagihiko tried pushing Rima away, the man said, "Oh! And this must be the young lady you bought the headband for! So, have you upgraded to boyfriend and girlfriend already?"

"Nagihiko..." Rima glared at the indigo-haired boy. "Who is this guy?"

"Oh, just the vendor from the New Year's festival," Nagihiko replied in an off-hand manner. To the man he said, "It was nice seeing you sir, but wehavetogonowbye!"

And he grabbed Rima's hand and made a run for the farthest corner of the shopping district.

"What the heck, Nagihik-

"Don't ask."

* * *

><p>Not noticing that they were holding hands, the two walked toward a book shop when Rima suddenly inquired, "Remember the question I was asking you earlier?"<p>

"W-what question, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko answered nervously.

Rima glared at him. "The question about today being July 4."

"Oh...that question..."

"What's up with you?" Rima demanded furiously. "When I mention today's date you get all...un-Nagihiko-like!"

"Un-Nagihiko-like?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow in an amused manner.

"Don't avoid the subject!"

Nagihiko rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Hehe, sorry, Rima-chan."

"Fine, be like that," Rima huffed.

The two glared at each other until they heard some teenage girls whispering, "Aww~ What a cute couple!" "It's so cute how they hold hands and stare at each other lovingly at the same time!" "Wow, I love that girl's hair..."

Hearing that, their faces turned red and they finally noticed the hands that were intertwined together. They quickly looked away from each other, but still kept their hands together.

Trying to look anywhere but Rima, Nagihiko looked up at the sky and noticed that the sky was turning dark. "Rima-chan," he started. "It's almost night."

"Wow, it's getting late. Where do you think the others are?"

**Ring! Ring! Ring!**

Once again, Rima's phone started ringing and she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Rima! Where are you two?" It was Amu calling.

"Where are we..?" Rima took a quick look around her area and saw nothing but stores and random shoppers.

"We're next to some stores..."

"Wow," Amu said sarcastically, "that's really going to help us."

"Well, if it helps," Rima retorted, "we're close to some crazy, annoying teenagers who keep fangirling about me and Nagihiko."

"I told you two were a good couple!" Amu gushed excitedly. Rima then heard Tadase telling Amu something in the background.

"Oh yeah! Since we can't find you, just meet us at the place where they're shooting fireworks."

"What? I don't see any firewo-"

**BOOM!**

Rima looked up and saw bright colors flashing in the sky.

"I rest my case. We'll be there, Amu. Okay, bye."

Pulling Nagihiko's hand and heading towards the fireworks, Rima explained shortly, "We're going to the place where they're shooting fireworks.

"Um, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko paused and pulled Rima towards him, causing her head to fall onto his chest.

"W-w-what?" Rima stammered, face red.

Nagihiko just smirked and said, "You're going the wrong way."

* * *

><p>Finally, after getting lost about four times ("No, Nagihiko, if we go that way, the crazy teenagers will find us again!" "But, Rima-chan, the creepy vendor is right in the direction that you're taking us!") and becoming temporarily overheated ("It must be around *40 degrees outside!" "Would you like me to dump a bucket of ice cold water on your head, Nagihiko?") they finally made their way to the source of the fireworks.<p>

Spotting pink and blonde hair next to each other, they tried to maneuver through the crowd, but was unsuccessful.

"It's really crowded here."

"It is," agreed Rima. "Where will we find a place to watch the fireworks?"

Surveying the area, Nagihiko spotted a high platform near the corner of the area. "Let's go up there," he pointed.

Nodding, the two made their way to the high platform and found a ladder to climb to the top. Sitting down near the edge of it, they watched the fireworks blast into the sky together.

"So Nagihiko," Rima started.

He turned to look at her and tilted his head sideways.

"Apparently, July 4 was the Americans got freedom," said Rima.

"Well, yes, they did. Is this related to the questions you were going to ask me?" asked Nagihiko.

"Yeah. So-"

Nagihiko interrupted her. "If you haven't been paying attention in history class, Americans were in war with Great Britain around-"

"That's not what I was going to ask!" shouted a frustrated Rima. "And I actually do pay attention in history class, Nagihiko."

"Oh."

"The wish you wrote on your tanzaku paper...why did it say that you wanted freedom?"

Nagihiko stiffened and slowly turned his head to look at Rima. "...you saw it?"

"Yes."

Nagihiko opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it.

"What do you need freedom for? Why?" questioned Rima.

"The freedom," he replied, looking at the fireworks being released into the sky, "to say what I want to say, do what I want to do, without anybody stopping me."

"Nagihiko," Rima smiled. "Today, on July 4, the Americans got freedom. But today, you also get freedom."

Confused, Nagihiko looked at Rima.

"Just say what you want to say, and do what you want to do. There's nobody here to stop you."

"No, Rima, you don't understand..." Nagihiko trailed off and looked Rima straight in the eye. "You're here."

Rima blinked, clearly surprised. "Are you saying that there's something you want to tell me? Or do something that involves me?"

Nagihiko nodded mutely in return.

"Then...for your birthday, I give you freedom; and I promise I won't say anything against whatever it is," Rima reassured Nagihiko.

"Are you sure about this Rima-chan?" asked Nagihiko nervously. Rima just nodded and gave him a slight smile.

"I'm sure. Go ahead."

"Alright then." Nagihiko took a deep breath and closed his eyes before turning to Rima, then said,

"I like you."

"The reason why I felt so nervous about the date was because I wanted to tell you that today. The reason why I wrote down freedom as my wish was because I wanted the freedom to tell you that I liked you."

Rima put a finger to his lips and nodded. "I understand."

Then she stood up and faced down at him with a soft smile. "I like you, too, Nagihiko."

Nagihiko was speechless and incredibly happy.

As a purple and yellow firework shot in the sky, Rima then handed him a small present and smiled. "Oh, and happy birthday, Nagihiko."

* * *

><p><strong>A while later...<strong>

"You knew it was my birthday today, Rima-chan?" asked a shocked and surprised Nagihiko.

"Well, yeah...I did," Rima stated, confused. "Of course I knew it was your birthday."

Nagihiko widened his eyes. "But I never told anyone when my birthday was."

Rima averted her eyes and twiddled her fingers. _'Uh-oh...I knew I shouldn't have hacked his Facebook account.'_

* * *

><p><strong>*40 degrees Celsius = 104 degrees Fahrenheit<strong>

***Tanabata is a summer festival in Japan where they write wishes on tanzaku paper and put them on bamboo trees**

**(You can Google it...)  
><strong>

**My entry for the Rimahiko Fanclub Summer Mini-Contest, Nagihiko birthday fic, and...4th of July one-shot?**

**And I know the story doesn't make sense, but then again...neither do I.  
><strong>

**OH YEAH UM MY FAVORITE PART WAS THE VENDOR GUY FROM MY NEW YEAR'S FIC.  
><strong>

**And one more thing...um, how should I put this...**

** "LYKE OMG HAPPIII BIRTHDAY NAGI UR SO TOTLLY AWESOME AND I LUV U!11one!1 RIMAHIKO ROCKS! *lessthanthree*"**


End file.
